This invention relates to soft luggage and particularly to a large, generally rectangular suitcase sometimes referred to as a pullman case.
It is known to provide a suitcase formed of a rectangular container having a central divider which creates two compartments. A lid on each side of the container is hinged along one edge to one wall of the container and closed on the container with a slide fastener passing around the remainder of the perimeter of the lid. The corners of this container are formed and supported by somewhat flexible plastic corner members, each of which extends through an arc of about 90.degree..
The lid has been a "rail zipper," that is, a flat lid having only enough fabric rim (about 1/2 inch) to support a slide fastener. The rail zipper is easy to manipulate and popular with customers. The lid has also been formed with a wide rim (about 11/2-2 inches in width). Such a wide rim must have corner supports similar to the stiff corners on the container. The wide rim provides a place for a hanger bracket at the free edge of the lid and, hence, is desirable from the standpoint of laying out garments from hangers at the edge of the open lid, the garments being laid across the lid and container and folded upon themselves by closing the lid. The customer, however, does not like pulling a zipper around the stiff corners of the rim where the lid is hinged to the container. There is a certain awkwardness there occasioned by the slide tending to jam as it makes the excursion around the rigid corner-forming member on the lid.